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Saturday, March 3

Mushroom & Green Bean Risotto

This past weekend marks a very special date for me. Exactly one year ago today I created Red Lab
27. I always thought it would be fun to have
a blog, but I never knew what to write about.
Luckily at that time there were many new changes happening in my
life. My new job brought me a different
city to explore and eventually I stumbled upon the local library. Checking out cookbooks was much more fun than
buying them, plus there was an endless supply.
With all the new dishes I was making, I finally had a subject to write
about. As an added benefit, I knew that
if I had my own blog, my tech savvy husband would be so proud.

Trying a new recipe each week and blogging about it has become
a true passion of mine. Because of Red
Lab 27, I’ve made new connections and friends.
I can’t begin to explain how rewarding it is when followers I don’t know
leave comments on my site about a recipe they’ve tried! More
than anything I love inspiring people to cook.
You don’t have to be a professional chef to produce amazing dishes at
home. I’m by no means a pro, but in the eyes
of my husband I am, and that’s what counts!

For Red Lab 27’s one year anniversary I wanted to make one
of my favorite dishes. But which
one?! That’s when I realized I hadn’t
shared this recipe for Mushroom & Green Bean Risotto! If you’ve never tried Risotto it’s a popular
Italian dish made of rice, that’s cooked in broth, to a creamy consistency. Y-U-M!

Please be forewarned that this dish takes time. It’s not hard, it just takes patience. At the very end you’ll find yourself standing
by the stove, stirring for a half hour, as the broth is slowly absorbed into
the rice mixture. The original
directions say to stir constantly.
What?! The first time I made this
meal I stirred and stirred for the full half hour (no breaks!). However, the 2nd time around I
stirred for a minute, put some dishes away, and continued stirring with little
breaks in between. This worked just as
well and didn’t affect the taste.

Fresh green beans and mushrooms

Before you begin this dish, you may be wondering where to
find a few of the ingredients. Dried
porcini mushrooms can be found in the produce section of your grocery
store. Dried mushrooms are typically kept
refrigerated, near the fresh mushrooms. I had to spend some time searching for the
short-grain rice. Who knew there were so
many kinds of rice lengths! But it’s
very important to buy short-grain rice, as it easily absorbs liquid and will
cook more quickly. I used gluten free, Lundberg Short Grain Brown Rice. Also, do not cheat and buy Kraft Parmesan Cheese. Buy
real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and grate it yourself. Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano is
absolutely amazing! There's no comparison. Trust me, if you put
in the effort to make this dish, you want to properly finish it. This cheese is a little more expensive (approx.
$10 for a block) and can be found near the fine cheeses.

Soaking the dried porcini mushrooms

This dish is sinfully delicious and has become one of our regulars
now. My husband described it as a “techno
party” in his mouth. While I was taking
the pictures for my blog, we couldn’t contain ourselves and were sneaking bites
here and there, until the photos were done.
When you take your first bite, your heart will melt and you’ll feel as
if you’re dining at an exquisite Italian restaurant. Also, did I mention that this dish is healthy
too?! Cooking Light provided the
nutritional value of 434 calories in one serving (1 ¾ cup). What a great dinner option! Enjoy!

Stir in chopped porcini, green beans, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon
black pepper. Cook for 2 minutes or
until the green beans are crisp-­tender. Place mushroom mixture in a large bowl
and keep warm.

what if one can't find short-grain brown rice? I live in Australia and white rice seems to be king in all the grocery stores; health food stores only have long grain. I suppose the cooking time will just be extra long??

MadameMarsh I have only made risotto this one time but understand your dilemma. I did some research on the internet and if you were to use long grain rice instead, the difference is that your risotto will not be as creamy and not stick together. The result will be more of a rice pilaf. It can be done but the results will not be the same. Here are 2 articles you may find useful. One is a written by a lady that only uses long grain rice, and the second is a discussion of people that have tried making risotto with long grain and short grains and their experience.

Another option is that you can always order rice online if this kind is not common in the grocery stores. Good luck! If you do try it with long grain rice, please let me know how it turns out.